I’m all about minimising kitchen time, and so I often make more than 1 meal with the same basic ingredients, but different flavour profiles (e.g. turning mince into a bolognaise and a cottage pie).

Marinades are a SUPER simple way to get more out of your time. With just 3 marinades that you throw together and blend, you will have 3 totally different meals for minimal effort. It’s kind of like the capsule wardrobe of cooking. Marinated thighs can be served with in so many different ways – all delicious!

I used 3kgs of chicken thighs, deboned* and portioned 1kg per marinade (about 12 thighs). I divided the recipe into two packs, each with 6 thighs, – this gives you 2 thighs per meal per adult, plus 2 for lunch the next day), or enough for 2 adults and 2 kids.

*I seldom debone my own chicken thighs. I either rope my husband in to do it with the promise of a delicious meal, but I discovered my butcher will debone the thighs for me, and now the world is my (shucked) oyster!

Asian Marinade

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup coconut aminos (I got mine from a friend coming down from UK, BUT, you can get them from Faithful to Nature (it’s costly) or Teriyaki sauce is good too – you might want to water it down a little to ease up on the salt, or try get your hands on the low sodium version)

Method:

Peel the garlic and ginger (ginger peels best with a spoon – true story!) and roughly chop.

Throw everything into a jug and blend with your immersion blender.

Pour marinade over chicken, massage and portion into plastic packets for freezing, or put into your fridge to marinade for a couple of hours or overnight.

When it’s time, cook chicken in a preheated oven at 180ºC, for about 15-20 minutes (depending on the size of the thighs).

Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and sliced spring onions.

Sun-dried Tomato Marinade

Ingredients

1 Cup sun-dried tomatoes (rehydrated or in oil)

1/3 Cup balsamic vinegar

2/3 cup olive oil (or the oil that the tomatoes came in)

1/2 cup (or more) basil leaves (fresh is delicious) or 1/3 cup oregano, or any herb that you like, really. Taste it and decide what you’d prefer.

2 Garlic cloves

Method

Peel the garlic

Roughly chop the ingredients (including the herbs)

Blend everything together.

Massage marinade into chicken thighs, portion and freeze. Or leave in the fridge to marinade for a couple of hours or overnight.

Cook the thighs in a preheated oven at 180ºC, for about 15-20 minutes (depending on the size of the thighs). It’s best if it is in a bowl that doesn’t squash the thighs, but lets them cook in the marinade.

Garnish with fresh herbs.

Creamy Curry Marinade

Ingredients

1.5 cups Kefir or Yoghurt

1/2 lemon (juice & zest)

1 good chunk of ginger (mine was around 40g)

2 Garlic cloves

1″ piece of turmeric root, or 1 teaspoon dried

1 Tablespoon Coriander

1 Tablespoon Cumin

2 Tablespoon Garam Masala

Dried chili flakes to taste (just a big pinch for us, because I want the kids to eat it)

Fresh Coriander leaves (Dhanya) (for serving)

Method

Peel the garlic

Roughly chop the ingredients (including the herbs)

Blend everything together.

Massage marinade into chicken thighs, portion and freeze. Or leave in the fridge to marinade for a couple of hours or overnight.

Cook the thighs in a preheated oven at 180ºC, for about 15-20 minutes (depending on the size of the thighs). It’s best if it is in a bowl that doesn’t squash the thighs, but lets them cook in the marinade.

NOTE – the marinade will separate into a thicker sauce and some watery whey. You can absolutely use this juice to boil the rice (if you first cook the chicken), or you can spread the chicken thighs out and it will evaporate, intensifying the flavour)

Garnish with Dhanya (Coriander Leaves).

I would LOVE to hear if you did this, and how long it took you to make this dish, and whether you used chicken breasts instead.